My Social Ineptitude Is Showing

Note: I toyed with titling this post, "Dog Owners Are Weird" but then decided it was better to own my weirdness and social deficits, rather than make a general statement about other people who may or may not be as weird as I am.

Before I got Lilly, my first puppy dog, I wanted a dog so badly. It had been some time since my childhood dog had died and I missed having a pup. I was obsessed. I mean, seriously obsessed. I would go on walks with friends and I'd see a dog and his or her person approaching. As they got closer, I ooohed and aahhed over the adorable dog and breathlessly asked if I could pet the dog. Then, I would pet the dog and babble at it and say how pretty he or she was. Before I completely embarrassed myself, my friend would usually gently nudge me and continue walking, thanking the nice person for letting us pet the dog. One day, my friend and I were walking away when this little conversation took place:

B: "Wow, that guy was really cute! Why didn't you flirt a little?"

H: "Huh? What guy? Where?"

B: "The guy."

H: (blank stare. crickets chirping.)

B: "Heidi. The guy. Walking the dog."

H: "Huh, guess I didn't notice. But wasn't that dog sooo cute?"

B: "How could you not notice the person walking the dog? And a cute guy?!"

H: (now slightly embarrassed) "Well I just saw the dog...and ... wanted to pet it...I was really only looking at the dog...(mumbles incoherently)."

No, unfortunately I am not exaggerating. That story really happened. Never did figure out what the guy looked like. And my friend may or may not have taunted me with that story every time we went walking. Or anytime she felt like laughing. Or when we saw cute guys. Or a dog.

You'd think now, with two dogs of my very own, I'd be better about paying attention to the people with the dogs...interact socially...meet new people. You'd think.

Fast forward to yesterday. It was a balmy 37 degrees when I left work. Still sunny too (woohoo!). I decide it's time to finally get the dogs out for a walk. There was excitement all around. We even managed to walk one block farther than usual and things were going well- the dogs were being good, I was keeping them on the sidewalk, and we'd had no run-ins with squirrels or other people or dogs. 

And then we hit the home stretch. I could see a dog and a person farther down the sidewalk. My dogs started getting a little excited and antsy. I decided since I had two bigger dogs, I would step aside onto a driveway to let the guy and his little dog (a Basset hound puppy perhaps?) pass by. But no, he also stepped aside and told me to go past. By this time, the dogs were anxiously pulling at the leashes, wanting to meet a new dog. So, being a good dog owner, I asked if they could say hi. The guy said sure, as his dog was clearly excited too. The sniffing and tail wagging commenced. Dog Guy was sort of talking to his dog saying something about "oooh, new dogs" and I was telling my dogs to "be nice." After a minute, we both sort of pulled the dogs away and resumed walking in our opposite directions. Two seconds later Montey started coughing and hacking from all the straining and pulling on the leash and finally horked up something gross and snotlike. Ew. 

It wasn't until I was about 20 feet away that I realized, I barely spoke to Dog Guy. I was paying such close attention to the dogs that I barely spoke to the attractive guy walking his dog all by himself. Again. What is wrong with me?! A cute guy, with a cute dog, walking. Alone. In my neighborhood. 

Cripes. I'm such a socially inept, dog-loving weirdo.